Two performances at Langdon Park School in the East End of London. The events were to evaluate the process that staff and year 10 students had experienced during year-long training for the Conflict Resolution and Mentoring Programmes.

A great way of showing us all the experiences the students have had through the eyes of other people.

A really fun, reflective and creative experience.

Rebecca Stokoe: Deputy Head of Year 7

What a fabulous way of converting their memories into a solid, creative representation.

I'm sure they will never forget everything they've done and learnt over the last year.

I'm so glad I came along.

Keep up the awesome work!

Louise Baldwin, Science Teacher

I thought the performance was great and I was really fascinated by how well they improvised and understood and communicated with each other in under a split second.

Elias Amaimon: Year 10 Student

I really enjoyed it because it was acted like I thought it would be. It was good.

Saniya Akthar: Year 10 Student

Spontaneous excellence!!!

I loved the way the whole of it worked without having to plan or prepare.

They really know how to display the message!

Wicked!

Rahide Khatun: Year 10 Student

The performance was extremely enjoyable. The actors used a variety of different types of performances which made all of us laugh and one or two of us cry from all the good memories brought back to life.

Aron Bird: Year 10 Student

The performance was very enjoyable to watch as it was funny how the actors made our stories come alive in such a great way. Loved every bit of it, great job done!!

Sam Sullivan: Year 10 Student

The performance was very entertaining because everything they did was improvising, and it was impressive. I would like to see the performance again.

Reshma Akter: Year 10 Student

The actors were very good and clever because they didn't practise their performance which made it even better.

Sultana: Year 10 Student

I have never been so gripped by a piece of theatre. I genuinely enjoyed every moment because I could relate to all of it. It was energetic, fun, free, creative and absolutely hilarious. I wanted it to go on and on. The whole Playback experience was very moving as it brought back to life a fabulous year!

Katy Orme: History Teacher and Co-ordinator of Conflict Resolution and Mentoring Programme

Having never heard of 'Playback' it was a very sweet surprise to witness a truly gripping, magical performance. The actors were funny, emotional and extremely creative. Each performance had something different to offer with the director choosing a style based on a story or an emotion. Watching 'Playback' put a smile on my face and a bounce in my step.

Kristen D'Intino: Humanities Teacher and member of team supporting Mentoring Programme

A moving and uplifting occasion to see the highlights of the year acted out before us. The spontaneity of the group was superb in capturing the feeling of oneness that our group experienced. I thoroughly enjoyed it and left feeling inspired.

James Pearce: Deputy Head of Year 7, Head of RE department and member of team supporting Mentoring Programme

I felt that the theatre group was truly amazing. It was so exciting watching them bring back to life the past and our memories. It was a fantastic way to end our long, successful year which put a smile on my face as I left the hall. I was ecstatic while watching this incredible performance but depressed at the same time because a remarkable year was coming to an end. The actors were really talented and even though we did not know who they were, they read us inside out. The performance was very creative and I didn't want it to end because I was captured by the moment.

Faiza Mukith: Year 10 Student

I thought the theatre workshop was absolutely brilliant. The way they created a piece of drama just through what we would tell them was truly inspirational and I wish I could do something like that. It was a fantastic way to end our long journey and I loved it.

Jack Jenkins: Year 10 Student

The theatre group was really good. It was amazing seeing how they brought back our past memories to life without having to discuss anything - it was fantastic and really interesting. I loved every moment and would love to see them again.

Nisma Akhtar: Year 10 Student

I really enjoyed the theatre group that came into Langdon Park School for the mentors, including me. It was really fun seeing the performers re-creating memories of our past experiences. It felt great once I saw the performers acting and I thought it was amazing the way they created a piece of drama from thin air. The funny thing was, that when we told them a memory, they created it through drama and it was so much like the real thing. It really made me think about the past year I and the other mentors had spent working on the conflict resolution project. It was a great way to end the year of hard and enjoyable work.

Bircan Omer: Year 10 Student

I think that the theatre group was amazing and really captured all of our personalities and a great way of finishing our year as a group. I think everyone was really inspired but also sad because it was the end of a fantastic year.

Mo Ajab: Year 10 Student

I thought the theatre workshop was great. It reflected how we felt and experienced certain situations. It helped show us how we've grown from it, the slight exaggerations made it fun to watch.

Weein-Yee Ng: Year 10 Student

Workshops and a performance at Wallands Primary School in Sussex. Year 6 Pupils explored stories and feelings about moving on to Secondary School.

- some people really surprised us and had massive voices

- it was a challenge for us to have to think on our feet

- enjoyed working with different people for a change

- it was realistic and entertaining

- noticed that even the quiet, shy people were speaking out

- it was a nice balance between having a workshop and a performance together

- enjoyed working with grown ups

- realised the importance of really listening to other people

Pupils in Year 6

I thought the Playback day was really successful. The feedback from the children was extremely positive. Many of them enjoyed participating in the various activities and all of them had something to say!

I thought the afternoon performance was incredible. The actors' ability to listen to the stories told by the children and recreate them without a word to each other was quite stunning. The children were amazed at their intuition and the techniques they used. They especially understood that the actors had to be very good listeners in order to pick up everything that was told to them.

As for addressing the transition to Secondary School, I couldn't think of a better way to do it! The scenes allowed for a huge range of anxieties to be played out in a personalised and often humorous way, engaging all the children, even those who didn't want to share their stories.

Congratulations to the highly talented company of Random Acts.

Sue Eldridge. Head of Drama and Year 5 teacher

Stunned fifteen year olds

It's very hard for me to describe what I thought of the playback theatre group, not because I have nothing to say but because I think I have too much to say. Let me start at the beginning, I was really looking forward to the closure day for a lot of reasons and one of them was because of the Show that we were going to see. All we knew about it was that it was going to be very special and memorable and it definitely was.

I was really curious to see how the actresses would act out our stories and memories. I thought Tig would be acting but she was actually directing. I knew that it couldn't be just normal acting. If Tig was involved it definitely had to be alive and energetic. I was amazed at how all four of the actresses could spontaneously adapt a character and play it so well. We described memorable moments from this year - times like the residential to Cardiff and our workshops with the year 7s and the year 6s. After we'd tell our story Tig would direct them telling them to act it out in a particular form. Also accompanying them was an instrument man who played all sorts of instruments and guided them along with great music.

I wanted to share one of my nightmare memories and after their performance it wasn't a nightmare anymore. I wanted Rachel to play my character because for some reason I felt that she could act me the best. The memory was of my first ever workshop with a year 7 tutor group who had earned themselves a bad reputation. We were a team of three girls. Two of us had never met or talked to the class but we got filled in about particular members by the other trainer. We were so nervous and it didn't help that the class was really noisy and disrespectful. The girls kept asking questions and the boys were being irritating and this was before they had even come in. They weren't listening and we got really frustrated and angry. I lost my temper and shouted at them. One of us told them to stand the other told them to sit. They were ignoring us and when we tried to say anything they laughed and made snide comments about us. One of the other trainers was shouting really loudly trying to drill the word respect in to their heads. The workshop was a disaster and we were exhausted.

Tig asked the actresses to playback my story in free form. Rachel was fantastic. She expressed my feelings perfectly. She showed my frustration and the others played the crazy, noisy, horrible children. They were all acting at the same time so we weren't concentrating on one character but all of them. It was hilarious. Rachel stood in the middle shouting, "Sit down stand up", one of the other actresses kept standing and sitting on a chair. One of the other actresses was shouting 'respect' over and over again really loudly. My jaw was aching from laughing so much I could really see how horrible I was actually being to the kids by shouting at them. You could tell from Rachel's facial expressions that I felt like murdering the kids. You could see the chaos and the tempers exploding.

I couldn't believe that they improvised so well without communicating with each other about who was going to do what. They performed a lot of our stories sometimes exaggerating and making them so funny, they also seemed to be really enjoying themselves. It was fantastic watching our experiences and memories coming to life, some of them will haunt us but we will always remember how much fun we had as a team and the things that we learnt about others and about ourselves.

Thank you so much to The Playback Theatre Company for an evening of wicked entertainment and laughter. Also to a very special person, who has been a highlight for me this year. Thank you so much.

Nasima Begum, 15 years old.

Our students were stunned and enthralled to see themselves, their vulnerabilities and excitements there in front of them… The Company show an acute ear, eye and sensitivity to the nuances of life and are able to energise these moments with instant vigour. It clearly requires a great deal of skill and dedicated hard work to develop the intuitive powers of the troupe. Random Acts were an inspiration to our students as was evident in their laughter, cheers and enthusiastic applause. As one said at the end of the all too short performance, "Oh my gosh! How do you do that?"